6544

Preparatory work

Duchesse de Gramont, née baronne Marguerite-Alexandrine von Rothschild 1902

Half-length to the right, full-face looking to the left, wearing a dark, short sleeved dress and large dark hat, her left arm stretched out before her, a further composition sketch to the right of her with a figure standing behind to the right, a line drawn around the edge of the composition

Soft pencil on buff coloured paper, 36.9 x 28.6 cm (14 ½ x 11 ¼ in.)

Inscribed lower right: L.F.E   

Sitters’ Book I, f. 59: Rothschild Gramont / Valliere 19 Septembre / 1902

Private Collection

This is a preparatory drawing for one of the two large group portraits de László painted in 1902 commissioned by Agénor-XI de Gramont, the sitter’s husband [8752]. Although a photographic record of the first group portrait remains, there is none for the second group painting, in which the finished portrait of the present sitter was included.

Both works were cut down into individual portraits in 1929, see [8752], making it difficult to completely reconstruct the original composition. However, the present drawing, together with another preparatory oil sketch [7206] for the figures of Armand and Corisande, suggest that Marguerite-Alexandrine was to the left, Armand [11801] in the middle (his figure here indicated to the right of the sketch, standing), and Corisande to the right [6625]. There also exist two other portrait sketches in oil, one of which remained in the possession of the artist on his death.

LITERATURE:        

•Les Modes, no. 27, 1903, ill.

•Rutter, Owen. Portrait of a Painter, London, 1939, p. 210

•Hart-Davis, Duff, in collaboration with Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, De László: His Life and Art, Yale University Press, 2010, p. 79-81

•Laszlo, Lucy de, diary 1902-1911, 6 August 1902 entry, p. 31, 27 December entry, p. 39

CC 2012